© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
December 4, 2000

CAIRNS, Australia, December 4, 2000 - Ten of the Earth's most fragile and precious places have been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List which now contains 690 sites.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee concluded its annual meeting here December 2. The 21 member committee determines the inclusion of natural sites on the World Heritage List on the recommendation of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

The committee chose to list 61 new cultural and natural sites this year. A Heritage listing helps in the raising of funds and passage of legislation to protect the designated area.

The 10 natural sites listed this year are:

ARGENTINA. Ischigualasto - Talampaya Natural Parks. These two contiguous parks, extending over 275,300 hectares (ha) in the desert region on the western border of the Sierra Pampeanas of central Argentina, contain the most complete fossil record known from the Triassic Period (245-208 million years ago). Six geological formations in the parks contain fossils of a wide range of ancestors of mammals, revealing the evolution of vertebrates and the nature of palaeo-environments in the Triassic Period.

AUSTRALIA. The Greater Blue Mountains Area.  The Greater Blue Mountains Area consists of 1.03 million ha of mostly forested landscape on a deeply-incised sandstone plateau 60-180km inland from central Sydney. The site comprises eight protected areas in two blocks separated by a transportation and urban development corridor. The site is particularly noted for its wide and balanced representation of eucalyptus habitats including wet and dry sclerophyll, mallee heathlands, as well as localised swamps, wetlands, and grassland. Ninety eucalyptus taxa (13% of the world's total) occur in the Greater Blue Mountains. The sites hosts several evolutionary relic species; such as the Wollemia pine, which have persisted in highly-restricted microsites.

BOLIVIA. Noel Kempff Mercado National Park. The National Park is one of the largest (1,523,000 ha) and most intact parks in the Amazon Basin. With an altitudinal range of 200m to nearly 1,000m, it is the site of a rich mosaic of habitat types from Cerrado savannah and forest to upland evergreen Amazonian forests. The park boasts an evolutionary history dating back over a billion years to the Precambrian period. An estimated 4,000 species of flora as well as over 600 bird species and viable populations of many globally endangered or threatened vertebrate species live in the park.

BRAZIL. Jaú National Park.  Jaú National Park is the largest national park in the Amazon Basin, and one of the planet's richest regions in terms of biological diversity. Established in 1986 to protect the entire watershed of the Jaú River, the park has an area of 2,272,000 ha. The Jaú River is considered the best example of a "blackwater ecosystem" (the name is taken from the colour given to the water by the decomposition of organic matter and the lack of terrestrial sediments). The park not only protects the hydrological basin of the Jaú River, but also a large proportion of the diverse species associated with the blackwater system.

BRAZIL. Pantanal Conservation Complex. The Pantanal Conservation Complex consists of a cluster of four protected areas with a total area of 187,818 ha. Located in western central Brazil at the south-west corner of the State of Mato Grosso, the site represents 1.3% of Brazil's Pantanal region, one of the world's largest freshwater wetland ecosystems. The headwaters of the region's two major river systems, the Cuiabá and the Paraguay rivers, are located here, and the abundance and diversity of its vegetation and animal life are spectacular.

ITALY. Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands). The Aeolian Islands provide an outstanding record of volcanic island-building and destruction, and ongoing volcanic phenomena. Studied since at least the 18th century, the islands have provided the science of vulcanology with examples of two types of eruption (Vulcanian and Strombolian) and thus have featured prominently in the education of geologists for more than 200 years. The site continues to enrich the field of vulcanology.

MALAYSIA. Kinabalu Park. Kinabalu Park, in the State of Sabah on the northern end of the island of Borneo, is dominated by Mount Kinabalu (4,095m), the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. It has a very wide range of habitats, ranging from rich tropical lowland and hill rainforest to tropical mountain forest, sub-alpine forest and scrub on the higher elevations. It has been designated as a Centre of Plant Diversity for Southeast Asia and is exceptionally rich in species with examples of flora from the Himalayas, China, Australia, Malaysia, as well as pan-tropical flora.

MALAYSIA. The Gunung Mulu National Park. Important both for its high biodiversity and for its karst features, Gunung Mulu National Park, on the island of Borneo in the State of Sarawak, is the most studied tropical karst area in the world. The 52,864-ha park contains 17 vegetation zones, exhibiting some 3,500 species of vascular plants. Its palm species are exceptionally rich, with 109 species in 20 genera noted. The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377m-high pinnacle karst, which is said to be the most cavernous mountain in the world. At least 295km of explored caves provide a spectacular sight and are home to millions of cave swiftlets and bats. The Sarawak Chamber, 600m by 415m and 80m high, is the largest known cave chamber in the world.

SURINAME. Central Suriname Nature Reserve. The Central Suriname Nature Reserve comprises 1.6 million ha of primary tropical forest of west-central Suriname. It protects the upper watershed of the Coppename River and covers a range of topography and ecosystems of notable conservation value due to its pristine state. Its montane and lowland forests contain a high diversity of plant life with almost 6,000 vascular plant species collected to date. The Reserve's animals are typical of the region and include the jaguar, giant armadillo, giant river otter, tapir, sloths, eight species of primates and 400 bird species.

SWEDEN. The High Coast. The High Coast is an archipelago located on the west shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, a northern extension of the Baltic Sea. The area covers 142,500 ha including a marine component of 80,000 ha, which includes a number of offshore islands. The irregular topography of the region, a series of lakes, inlets and flat hills rising to 350m, is largely shaped by the combined processes of glaciation, glacial retreat and the emergence of new land from the sea which continues today at a rate of 0.9m per century. Since the final retreat of the ice from the High Coast 9,600 years ago, the uplift has been in the order of 285-294m which is the highest evident "rebound" known to man. Error: Unable to read footer file.